Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Any help would be appreciated!!! I have had 2 baby RES for about 2 weeks now. Everything has been fine with them. I got them a floating turtle dock for basking (as they kept digging under the rock I had and it was always in the water) and now they just keep going under it and frantically swimming, trying to get I dont know where ,and they are not coming out to bask. I even tried putting them on it to show them, but they just end up under it again... FINALLY, my question is, will they figure it out or go crazy trying to crawl thru the space between the dock and tank??? It worrries me as they were basking on the rock all the time, I even put the rock back in, I dont know ,I am new at this and they just seem so stressed now. Please help. Thanks.

They will figure it out eventually, try not too worry so much. They are self sufficient little creatures!

Nancy

I have a turtle dock too and for a while my 2 RES didn't bask on it either....then they kept trying to get on the side where there isn't a ramp...they eventually figured it out though....give them a few days Like Nahenne said, they are very self sufficient....adaptable and smart! Enjoy your turts!
-----
~walnut~
Turtle Pics
1 Dog- Mollianna Mae
1 Cat- Macey Montana
2 Red Eared Sliders- Gator and No-No
2 Beta- Swamp and Swims
4 Fish- One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

Okay I don't know if this post is going to help you at all but I'm just going to explain my experience with the turtle dock. When I first put the dock in one of my turtles kept swimming behind the plastic bars that hold the dock onto the side of the tank. Well she kept getting stuck so I ended up having to take off the self leveling feature. Then I tied some string to one of the suction cups and put it though one of the holes in the dock. My turtles always try and lodge themselves between the dock and the tank because they can actually push the dock away from the tank now. One of them does this over and over again and I finally figured out that he's doing it to scratch his shell (my turtles love to scratch their shells up against things. Someone really needs to invent a turtle back scratcher or do they already make them?) They also love to stick their heads up though the holes in the dock. They will stay like that for hours with their heads in the holes and their bodys just kinda hanging there. I took the cutest picture of both of them doing this. I wish I could post it for you but my scaner is broken. I feel like they are really going to miss those holes when I put the self leveling thing back on. At first they would always try to climb up the side that didn't have the ramp. They still do that sometimes but they use the ramp too. So that's my turtle dock story.

that must be a cute sight to see but just a word of caution eventually they are going to get too big to stick their heads into those holes and could get stuck which would be an unfortunate event if you were not home at the time that this occurred to assist them in getting free.

What is your water Temperature? Do you have a basking light over the platform? If so what is the temperature of the basking area?

If your water temperature is warmer than the basking area temp than they will be reluctant to climb up and bask.

They went up on it and started basking away about a half hour after my panic. My water temp is about 80 and I do have a basking light over it!!! They are fine now, I have never had turtles and am trying to learn as much as I can. They seem to love it now. Thanks for your reply!!! I will try not to panic as much. I am glad there is a forum like this with people who are so ready to help!!! Thanks again